Tight Rope - 2

In the first episode we did the very boring part, the song and dance.

This time we focus on the exciting part, the book review:

Global climate change, pollution, inequality, warfare. The list of today’s plaguing problems goes on and on. When presented with such a huge stinking banquet of the world’s ugliness, most people simply turn their noses away, unable to gather the courage to face the intimidating task of coming up with some plausible solutions. However, “Humanity on a Tightrope: Thoughts on Empathy, Family and Big Changes for a Viable Future” makes a valiant attempt at addressing these formidable world issues from an interesting, but maybe too idealistic, point of view.

(The Stanford Daily, italics added, bold in original). Meanwhile, the Japanese are moving people further away from the troubled nuclear power plant:

Japanese officials on Friday began quietly encouraging people to evacuate a larger swath of territory around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a sign that they hold little hope that the crippled facility will soon be brought under control.

(NY Times). Not only that, a Japanese news source says strange things have been happening:

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday it has observed a neutron beam, a kind of radioactive ray, 13 times on the premises of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after it was crippled by the massive March 11 quake-tsunami disaster.

(Kyodo News). Perhaps that is why the Obama Administration has gone clean coal nuts, and is unleashing a storm of coal mining leases on federal lands:

“As the number one coal producer from public lands, Wyoming provided nearly 40 percent of the domestic coal used to generate electricity last year and it’s important that we continue to encourage safe production of this important resource.”

("Clean Coal" ... Yeah ... that's the ticket). The Daily Kos does not think Salazar was telling much of the truth:

Salazar is flatly wrong regarding greenhouse gas emissions. Sub-bituminous coal emits more carbon dioxide than bituminous coal ... When burned, the coal threatens to release more than 3.9 billion tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, equal to the annual emissions from 300 coal-fired power plants.

(Daily Kos). Our post yesterday pointed out that our culture of falsehood may be bringing yet another disaster upon us.